Where Our Paths Diverged
by hariboo-smirks
Summary: She came back. If only for a while. Then she left. Again. Tag for Ripple Effect. Guess who I wrote into the episode?


Where Our Paths Diverged

"_What hurts the most, _

_Was being so close_

_And having so much to say,_

_And watching you walk away." _

_- Rascal Flatts_

Gen. Landry walks into the office with Sam tagging along. He has a small smile and Daniel wonders who came through the gate this time.

"Doctor Jackson, if I could steal you away for a second, I think there is someone you would like to see."

Daniel wonders if it's another Janet, but the smile on Landry's face tells him otherwise. Daniel ignores the clenching in his stomach, and follows Landry.

When they get to the interrogation room Landry has the guard open the door and ushers Sam and Daniel inside. Raven hair in two pigtails sits with their back to them. Daniel doesn't know what to do with all the feelings that surge up in him.

"Ms. Mal Doran," Landry states, and the body in the chair turns to face them. Vala. Her eyes fall on Sam, and she brightens in a way that has Daniel wishing she wasn't from another reality.

"Samantha!" This Vala sounds happy and overcome. She stands, and in less than a second she is wrapping Sam up in a hug. Over Vala's shoulder Sam shares a look with Daniel. She and Vala had barely met, but the way the woman is hugging her is like she just got back her best friend. Sam awkwardly hugs this Vala back, and that seems to bring the other woman back from wherever she went. A little embarrassed, she separates from Sam and looks at him. She seems to freeze and then smiles and Daniel can tell she's struggling not to hug him too. He half wishes she wouldn't.

She clears her throat, standing back from them. "Sorry. It's just… it's really good to see you. Alternate realities can be so messy, as I'm sure you know." She smiles, wide and fake, then turns to Landry, "Have they seen him yet?"

"No, not yet. That's the next stop. Would you like to join us?"

Vala nods. "Love to." Together they follow Landry to another room. As soon as the door opens they hear, "Hey, finally! I was beginning to think you all forgot about me!"

Daniel knows of only one person who would be that annoying in this situation. Vala pushes past them and enters the room.

"Jack love, look who I found!" Daniel tries not to roll is eyes, but there is something in her tone. She's trying too hard.

"Vala… what have you done now?" There is an almost parental familiarity in his voice; it reminds Daniel of how Jack's speaks to him sometimes.

Following Vala into the room they come face to face with Jack O'Neill. He is standing by the table and Vala has plopped herself on it. They are wearing the same blue BDU's and Jack's face when he looks at Daniel and Sam is remarkably similar to Vala's when she first saw them. Daniel didn't quite understand Vala's look, but he's known Jack longer, and can tell the minute he sees his best friend's alternate version, that something bad has happened in their world. Something happened to him and Sam. Vala's hug is a lot more understandable now.

But like Vala, Jack only lets the emotion take over for a second, before he closes himself off.

"Well, Pigtails, I'll never doubt you again." He speaks to Vala, hand on her shoulder, but his brown eyes never leave them. Daniel knows if Jack wasn't Jack he'd be hugging them too.

"Damn right, love." She pats Jack's hand and Daniel can tell it's a gesture of comfort more than anything else. This Jack and Vala are bound by something that Daniel is beginning to fear.

"So Carter, Daniel, mind explaining what's going on?"

§

After the session with the alternate Jack and Vala, Daniel goes back to his office. Vala had offered to help the Sams out, and the fact that Vala knows most of Sam's research had Daniel worrying about what happened in that world even more. He knows Sam was trying not to read too much into that too. They both focus on the problem at hand, but Daniel struggles not to go see this new Vala again.

Noticing his coffee cup and in office coffee maker are empty, he leaves the room and heads to the commissary. On his way there he sees Janet again, he is about to head over when he hears a voice call out to the woman.

"Janet?!" It was Vala. And she knows Janet.

"Vala?!" And Janet apparently knows Vala too.

Yep, his life is weird.

He watches as the tall brunette hugs the petite woman. It's a hug between old friends, on both their parts. He doesn't understand why part of him isn't shocked.

He hears Janet. "Wow, I've been getting a lots of hugs today."

Vala laughs. "Well, I've been giving lots of hugs today."

"How are you?" Janet asks, and even though Daniel knows that these are alternate versions of the Janet and Vala that _this_ Janet and Vala know, he can see ease in their way. He guesses some alternate realities are less different than others.

"I'm okay, this is just too weird…" Vala is lying, but Janet just nods. He thinks that Janet can tell too, she had been… was… uh… is always scary like that.

"How's ga--" Nodding, Janet then starts to say something, but is interrupted by one of the Cams and one of his own twins.

"Yo, princess, you get lost or something?"

"Janet, did you talk to the general?"

Both the Cam and Daniel meet their respective team members, but Daniel only focuses on the other Daniel's reaction to Vala. His eyes grow soft, and he smiles. He looks like he's about to hug Vala, and Daniel suddenly wants to switch places with him. Vala looks at his alternate self and again her eyes soften, just like the other Daniel's did. She blinks and straightens, composing herself.

Janet and the other Cam both look at their team members, Janet smiles enigmatically, but Cam's eyes go dim. He places a hand on Vala's shoulder and smiles gently. "I'll tell Jack you'll be right back, but hurry, you know how he gets." Vala nods, her eyes never leaving his alternate self. Cam leaves, so does Janet. _Her_ smile never left.

"Hey." Daniel can hear his twin say. The tone he uses is soft and comfortable, like the favorite sweats you shrug on after a long day.

"Hi…" Her voice is gentle but guarded. Her body is taut, ready to run.

"This is weird, right?" His voice is tender and it seems to relax her a little. Daniel doesn't understand why this makes him bitter.

Vala laughs quietly, almost sadly. "Yeah… you're not my Daniel."

"You're not my Vala." It's a supposed to be a teasing remark to her own comment, but it affects Vala in a way that has Daniel wanting to punch himself. She is folding into herself, her shoulders slumps and her glow lessens.

His alternate self can tell something's wrong too. He immediately steps closer to her, and places his hands on hers. Vala looks at the other Daniel for a second and hugs him in a way that rivals the way she had hugged Sam earlier. The other Daniel hugs her back just as hard. Watching, Daniel can see a familiarity with which his alternate self hugs this Vala. Questions that he doesn't want think too much about burn in his mind. He watches them separate, but they don't go too far. At the other end of the hallway Daniel watches himself as he brushes Vala's hair out of her face, his thumb traces under her eyes. He whispers something and she nods. She says something back and he smiles. They are speaking too quietly for Daniel to hear, but he's not even sure he wants to. Another Cam walks by and they separate. They share one last smile and go in opposite directions.

Daniel doesn't feel like getting coffee anymore.

§

After the mission they start sending the other teams back. They are on the second to last team. Jack is standing next to his Cam and Teal'c. Vala is nowhere to be seen.

"Vala!" Jack bellows, and she rushes in.

"Relax, love, I'm right here, I was just chatting with our dear Walter, well, not _our_ dear Walter, but you know what I mean." She moves to stand next to Jack, who pulls on one of her pigtails. Daniel ignores the urge to shove and glare at Jack.

"You mean you wanted to get your fill on an alternate realities gossip."

"A girl does like to be informed."

"Right, informed. Scamp…" Jack rolls his eyes, and Vala nudges him. Again, Daniel has an urge that needs to be suppressed.

Gen. Landry looks at the group and tells Walter to dial the gate. The wormhole engages and they all look at each other.

"Thanks, this was trip…" Jack states and nods to them, his eyes lingering on Daniel and Sam.

"No problem, sir, we're glad we were able get you back home." Sam answers back.

Jack nods, it's stiff and quick like if doing anything else would be too much.

"So, that Martouf guy was cute…" Vala says, fidgeting next to her Teal'c for a second before she lunges at Sam again. This time Sam accepts the hug easier with a laugh. When Vala separates she looks at Daniel for a second, takes a small breath, and hugs him too. Her arms are tight, warm and solid around him. He hugs her back, letting himself relish in the tangibility of her person, if only for a moment. As she detaches herself from him, he swears he feels her lips and nose brush against the skin on his neck.

Standing back next to Jack she smiles, it's fake but real, sweet but sad.

Daniel wishes he knew why she is hurting so much.

As she and her team start to head up the ramp Daniel's eyes follow her. They all go to step through the gate, but Vala turns back and Jack pauses next to her for a second. He has a look in his eye that tells Daniel too much, but Daniel can't fully comprehend it because Vala speaks, wetly. "Sam! After Martouf, you totally traded down!" She gives one last laugh through the tears only Daniel sees, and next to her Jack, about to step through, rolls his eyes with a sad but amused shake of his head and goes to grip her vest to pull her through with him. Daniel is not sure how he knows this, but is full with the knowledge that leaving him and Sam today is the hardest thing those two have done in a while.

Daniel smiles and shrugs at the look Sam gives him, but his thoughts fill with the image of bouncing pigtails, expressive eyes, and smiling pink lips. He doesn't know which Vala he is missing more.

§

"_Two roads diverged in a yellow wood"_

_-Robert Frost_

Back on PX8- 431,Vala punches in the gate address for, hopefully, _their_ Earth, but the tears make it harder. She feels a hand fall to her shoulder and turns to look at Jack. His brown eyes hold the same sadness as hers, but he won't cry. She cries instead. He holds her until she's done. Behind them Cam and Teal'c stand stoically, they know how hard the last couple of days have been for them, for them all.

Wiping her tears, she looks at Jack.

"I'm okay."

"You're not."

She shrugs. "I will be, you?"

"Yeah, fine."

"Liar." Jack shrugs. "We'll find her, you know?"

"She'll probably find us first."

Vala has to smile a little. "True, Sam's clever that way."

"About Daniel, I know how hard that must have been…" And she knows he does, because it was equally hard for him too.

"It's just…. He was _there_. He was everywhere, but none of them were _mine_." Her eyes begin to blur again so she shuts them tightly. She's not going to breakdown again. She has to be strong. She needs to be strong.

She opens her eyes and looks to her team, her family. She smiles and finishes punching in the address. The wormhole engages and Cam sends the IDC.

Putting her hand to her stomach, she takes a deep breath. She has to be strong. She promised she would be.


End file.
